The Carter Report sends a clear message that NHS professionals lack the necessary analytics analysing the right data to make the best healthcare decisions. It will never square the circle of increasing patient expectations and budget pressures unless it addresses this issue. For example:-

" We were also disappointed to find limited digital maturity with regards to medicines information technology, with great variation in the deployment of electronic prescribing and administration systems in both inpatient (13% of trusts) and outpatient (4% of trusts)"

The NHS has a choice. It could do what it has always done before when faced with a budget crisis and make salami-slicing cuts that don't achieve much if any productivity improvement and don't lead to sustainable balanced budgets. Or, it can apply well known management and information practices that work elsewhere and start identifying how to achieve sustained improvement.

The answer need not be in leviathan systems that take too long to build, are to complex to use and over-run budgets adding to financial pressures. 

Try some of the proven answers such as patient administration & EPR solutions. Look at a performance dashboard that helps make data driven decisions.

The answers are there